Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Death Mask of Tutankhamun

The death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun is made of gold inlaid with colored glassand semiprecious stone. The mask comes from the innermost mummy case in the pharaoh’stomb, and stands 54 cm (21 in) high. The emblems on the forehead (vulture and cobra) andon the shoulders (falcon heads) were symbols of the Two Lands of Upper and Lower Egyptand of divine authority. The vulture Nekhbet and the cobra Wadjet protected the pharaoh.

COFFINS

Tutankhamun's mummified body was found within three coffins or sarcophagi, each onewithin the next. The largest is still in the original tomb in the Valley of the Kings along withhis mummy, but the other two are here. This is the middle coffin, made of wood coveredwith gold, semiprecious stones, glass and obsidian.The inner coffin is made of solid gold and weighs 110 kilograms (which at 2004 pricesmakes the gold by itself worth over one and a half million US dollars).

Inner CoffinMiddle CoffinMiddle CoffinThe Egyptian VultureThe Egyptian vulture is a tool-using bird. Egyptian vultures are specialists in egg-eating.They are among the only known birds in the world to use stones as tools. They willrepeatedly strike at an abandoned ostrich egg with stones, then use their beak to enlargethe hole and penetrate membrane. Then it feasts on the oozing interior of the egg. In ancientEgypt the vulture is considered to be nearer to God who is believed to reside above the sky.

The Egyptian CobraThe ancient Egyptians worshipped the cobra and used it as a symbol on the crown of thepharaohs. It is used as a protective symbol, the Egyptians believed that the cobra would spitfire at any approaching enemies. It is also called asp.